Learning Zone

The Mind Brain Problem

One
of the most profound questions facing science today is understanding
the nature of consciousness and the mind, as well as their relationship
with the brain. The basic scientific problem, is simple to describe but
difficult to answer: How does our sense of self-awareness together with
all our subjective thoughts, feelings, and emotions arise from the
brain?

Traditionally, in philosophical circles this has been
referred to as the mind-body problem, and while many well-known
philosophers such as Plato and Descartes have argued that the mind and
brain are separate entities, many modern scientists have proposed that
the mind is a product of brain activity. However, despite obvious
interest, no testable, plausible biological mechanism to account for
how the brain may give rise to the mind or consciousness has been
proposed.

Thankfully, despite many difficulties, there has
been a definite move by the scientific community to try and address
this problem. Although, a number of theories have been proposed,
however progress has been hampered by a lack of experimental models to
test such theories. The study of the human mind and consciousness
during cardiac arrest is a novel and innovative method that has arisen
in the last few years for testing any theory of consciousness. In this
section, some of the major theories for the causation of consciousness
are discussed, together with experimental evidence obtained from
studies of the human mind during cardiac arrest and their potential
role in finally answering the ancient question of the self and
understanding the nature of consciousness.